Long story short! Delilah is my 5 year old chow. I fought internally for severaly years and finally broke down and got Delilah a friend. Deja came into our lives December 23, 2013. She is now almost 6 months old. About a week ago the girls had a really bad fight. I put it down to a dominance "thing". Yesterday they had a really bad one and stupid me did the one thing you should never do when two dogs are fighting, I reached in to separate them. Guess who got bit? They just had another fight several hours ago. Is this because Deja is coming into heat anytime now, is she trying to establish dominance over Delilah? Deja is always the one starting the fights. I don\t understand how she can all of a sudden become so aggressive? The two have gotten along soooooooooooo well up until now. Any suggestions on what to do in this case, how to discipline. I have to say it is extrememly unpleasant to witness.

I have very little experience with females and have never had an intact female so I don't have much to offer there. I have had up to 4 males at a time though so I do know a little about fights. First off, as I am sure you know, don't put your hands in or you will get bitten. If they are outside when fighting, spray the hose between them. This should get them to let go for a second so you can get a hold of one or chase one away from the other. In the house we usually use a dish towel. We use it to cause a distraction to get them to stop for a second so we can grab the aggressor. Of course this doesn't solve the fighting issue but it will keep you from being bitten again. Hopefully others will chime in on how to prevent some of the fights.

It boils down to temperament. Deja and Delilah don't agree much. Females can get along each other fine but there are females who you can say "arch enemies. Behaviour, they growl at each other in as little as eye contact, or their furs touch because the alley is too narrow. Food aggression. It develops right at the age of Deja. Separate the two, if there is something unfortunate to happen, that's one. to have two irreconcilable dogs or bitches. anyway, a 10 meter distance between the two at all times would be sufficient. However if you live in an apartment of a house, that's bound to happen. Break them apart by talking. Call their name, then command. Dont get into the fray asap, you'd get bitten.

Spaying asap might help with this. Females are more territorial than males, because they are looking for a safe place to raise puppies. Some are far worse than others. The younger one sounds like she is more naturally dominant, she's pushing for two reasons, one coming into heat, and two because of her age, this is the time she will begin to try to take over. You want to nip it in the bud as soon as you can as much as you can before it becomes a habit to her. It is sometimes impossible for two females to live together in peace. But it can be done, you have to be more assertive yourself and more aware of body language, any and all aggression should be stopped immediately, if the younger one even begins to stare at the other, call her name, sharply in a no nonsense manner, demand that she come to you and make her lay down facing you. In other words put her in her place, with commands. You may have to use NLIF for the next few months to reassert who is really the boss.

Generally this is normal. Our female before passing was 'Emperess of the Universe', period. She only ever fought with her brother, no other dog ever thought of getting that close, so she cared less. She loved everyone and had several dogs she considered friends in the neighbourhood. Her brother did however rub her the wrong way, often and never once won an encounter. That said we figured out early on to stay out of it or things escalated. You can throw something down like a metal bowl, phone book to reacquire their focus. Then tell both to sit down all the while being completely calm and showing no favoritism. It is really going to be all about you. You are in charge. Being calm is the greatest strength you have.